The present invention relates to a blank made of a packaging material for making a rigid package with hinged lid for an ordered group of cigarette packs.
As is known, ordered groups of cigarette packs are often packaged in rigid packages of the type comprising a lower container and an upper lid, both cup-shaped, the lid being hinged along a rear edge of the container in such a way that it can turn between a position in which the container is open and a position in which it is closed.
Such packages normally have the shape of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped and comprise a top, base and back, defined by a continuous surface which is divided into two parts by a transversal hinge line, coinciding with the rear edge, which connects the lid to the container, a front panel defined by two separate portions which form the front surface of the container and, respectively, the front surface of the lid, and two sides, each defined by two separate portions constituting a side surface of the container and a side surface of the lid.
Rigid packages of the above-mentioned type also normally have an inner frame, which is partially inside the container, in contact with the inside of the front surface and the sides of the container. The portion of the inner frame which projects outside the container basically functions as a support and retaining element for the lid when the latter is in the closed position.
Rigid packages of the above-mentioned type are normally made in a cartoner of the known type using a given sequence of stages of folding a flat blank, made of cardboard or another similar material, about a ready-ordered group of cigarette packs, stacked according to a preferred stacking axis.
Moreover, the blanks used for such packages are usually of the type with incorporated inner frame, that is to say, the blanks have a first portion designed to define the container and lid, and a second portion which defines the inner frame.
mCartoners of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,281 by the Applicant, whose content is introduced herein, are known, in which in particular each ready-ordered group of packs is fed into an arbor in a direction transversal to the longer longitudinal axes of the packs, together with a flat blank which is normally fed along a path P which lies on a plane transversal to the direction of feed of the group of packs to the arbor, towards a given zone at which the blank is positioned substantially in front of the arbor in such a way that it intercepts the group of packs moving towards the arbor.
The arbor has a lower surface which supports the group of packs. One panel on the blank is inserted between said surface and the packs and may correspond to one side of the rigid package.
The blank is of the type described in Italian patent number 1.273.832 and the application for a European patent number 95103274.7 by the Applicant, whose content is introduced herein and, for the purpose of clarity, said type of blank is illustrated in FIG. 1, or of the type described in Italian patent application number BO 97A000622 by the Applicant, whose content is introduced here and, for the purpose of clarity, this type of blank is illustrated in FIG. 2.
Both the blank illustrated in FIG. 1 and that illustrated in FIG. 2, have a longer longitudinal axis A along which, joined by prefolding lines B, there is a plurality of panels N designed to define, respectively, the front C, back D and sides E of the rigid package defining a carton S of the type described, for example, in the above-mentioned European patent application number 95103274.7 by the Applicant, whose content is introduced herein.
For the purpose of clarity, this type of carton is illustrated in FIG. 3.
These types of blanks, described above, also have an appendix F which extends transversally to the above-mentioned longitudinal axis A, along its own axis A' which is perpendicular to the axis A, and is designed to define the inner frame G. With reference to FIG. 3, the carton S thus obtained holds an ordered group of cigarette packs H arranged in two rows, each consisting of five packs lying next to one another, with the front V of one making contact with the back Z of the other and with their longer longitudinal axis X, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis A of the blank from which the carton S is obtained.
The packs H are, therefore, positioned in such a way that their bottom ends I and top ends T are parallel with the base M of the carton S.
It should be noticed that, for technical reasons linked to the special architecture and the position of the arbors in cartoners of the known type, the blanks described above are normally fed towards the arbor along a path P which extends parallel with the preferred pack stacking axis and, therefore, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the blanks are set at an angle to their axis A which makes the path P substantially coincide with the longer longitudinal axis A of the blanks.
Marketing requirements necessitate the manufacture of cartons whose external dimensions are as directly proportional as possible to the external dimensions of a conventional rigid hinged-lid pack which is to be contained in the carton.
This characteristic is present, for example, in the carton described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,213, in which the group of packs consists of five packs H stacked in such a way that the front V of one is in contact with the back Z of the next or previous pack in the stack. The packs H are, therefore, arranged in the carton with the fronts V and backs Z parallel with the bottom and top of the carton. This type of pack H arrangement is, therefore, different to the pack arrangement in the carton illustrated in FIG. 3.
The type of carton described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,213 is obtained by folding a blank, of the type illustrated for convenience in FIG. 4 which reproduces FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,213, in which for greater clarity a dashed line is used to illustrate a plurality of packs H stacked along a preferred stacking axis Y.
Along its longer longitudinal axis A, the blank has a plurality of panels N, joined by prefolding lines B, designed to define, respectively, the front C, back D and sides E of the rigid package defining a carton of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,213. The blank also has an appendix F which extends along the longitudinal axis A and is designed to define the inner frame G whose U-shaped free edge L defining the portion of the inner frame G which projects from the container is parallel with the axis A.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, it is evident that, starting with such a blank, in order to obtain a carton which holds the packs H stacked along the axis Y with the fronts V and backs Z parallel with the bottom and top of the carton, each pack H must be oriented with its longer longitudinal axis X parallel with the longitudinal axis A of the blank and, therefore, parallel with the free edge L of the inner frame G.
It is also evident that the blank illustrated in FIG. 4, with its appendix F positioned on and extending along the axis A, is longer along the axis A than are the blanks illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.
With reference to the description of blank feed, the type of blank illustrated in FIG. 4 could be fed to the arbor in the cartoner of the type described above by feeding the blank along a feed path P and setting the blank at an angle to its longitudinal axis A in two different ways.
The first method involves feeding the blank angled as shown in FIG. 4, that is to say, with its longitudinal axis A perpendicular to the feed path P, which extends parallel with the preferred pack H stacking axis Y. In this case, there would be the evident problems with an excessive width, and radical modification of the folding devices on the arbor in the above-mentioned cartoner would be required. A second method involves feeding the blank angled with its longitudinal axis A parallel with the path P, that is to say, with the blank rotated 90.degree. relative to the barycentric axis perpendicular to the plane in the figure, as illustrated by the dashed line in FIG. 4. This method would overcome the problem of the excessive width, but in addition to modification of the folding devices, the cartoner would have to be fitted with another device able to pick up the ready-ordered groups of packs and rotate them 90.degree. about an axis perpendicular to the stacking axis Y, so that in the completed carton the packs are arranged with the fronts V and backs Z parallel with the bottom and top of the carton and with their longitudinal axes X parallel with the longitudinal axis A of the blank and, therefore, parallel with the free edge L of the inner frame G.
In addition to the above-mentioned disadvantages, the blank in FIG. 4 is relatively expensive, since quite a lot of wrapping material is required for its production.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a blank made of a wrapping material for making a rigid package with hinged lid for an ordered group of cigarette packs, which allows the obtainment of a package whose external dimensions are substantially directly proportional to the external dimensions of the packs which it contains, which can be used in a cartoner of the known type, described above, without necessitating substantial modifications to the machine, and which is also relatively economical.